1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for managing teleconferences.
2. Background of the Invention
Conference calls, or “teleconferences” are well known in the art, and have become a staple technology in all types of businesses. Conference calls can be arranged quicker than a physical meeting, especially in situations where one or more parties are remotely located from the meeting site. Savings of travel costs, and time in transit, are also key advantages to conference calls when compared to traditional, on-site or “in-person” meetings.
Traditional telephone-based, audio-only conference calls are quite common. Newer embodiments which use the Internet and voice-over-Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) for audio and sometimes video conferences are also gaining popularity.
Typically, a conference call is provided by a centralized service. Prior to the conference call, conferees are provided with a “call in number” and a meeting code, such as a PIN code.
During conference calls through a teleconferencing center, sometimes it is necessary for a listening conferee to interrupt whoever is currently talking. In this situation where it isn't practical or desired to wait for a lull in the discussion, the interrupter is going to use some method to interrupt the speaker. There are several methods people use to interrupt in conference calls known in the art.
First, the interrupter can use their voice, spoken loudly, so as to be heard over the speaking conferee's voice. For example, the interrupter might ask loudly, “Can I say something?!?” Sometimes, however, multiple attempts may be required before the speaking conferee hears the request, especially if the speaking conferee uses a half-duplex phone. Meanwhile, all other conferees on the conference call hear both the interrupter and the speaking conferee at the same time, which is distracting and often very annoying.
In a second approach, the interrupter can press a key on their phone pad to send a dual-tone multi-frequency (“DTMF”) tone, also known in the U.S. marketplace as “touch tone”™, which is transmitted to all other conferees, including the speaking conferee. Typically the tone only needs to be brief, and so is less distracting than interrupting with a loud voice, but this method is still a distraction to the other conferees. Furthermore, if the speaker uses a half-duplex phone, the signal would either have to be timed coincidentally at just the right moment, or, the interrupter would need to keep pressing the key or hold it down until the speaker pauses long enough to be able to hear it. This extended tone is audible to everyone except the speaker, and so it is distracting.
In yet another approach which has developed in customary usage of conference calls, the interrupter uses some means external to the conference call (e.g. out-of-band of the voice conference signal), such as sending an instant message, calling from and to a different phone, or running down the office hall to tell the speaker they need a turn speaking. This is inconvenient at the least, and may not be available in all situations.
“Moderated conferences” are special conference calls in which one of the members of the conference can control which conferee can speak, all others being muted. Conferees who desire to speak in the conference, such as to ask questions, may signal this desire by pressing a certain key combination, which signals the conference moderator, who may or may not un-mute the requester.
However, the model of moderated conferences applies well to presentation-style teleconferences when it is expected that one conferee, the “presenter”, will be talking the most, and when most of the other conferees are not expected to speak much or at all. If there are a lot of requests to speak, it can become burdensome and incur delays in the natural flow of conversation to have the moderator explicitly select speakers. Additionally, if a conferee wishes to speak but the moderator does not un-mute the requester's microphone, the requester can become frustrated. Further, moderated conferences typically incur higher fees, and so may be discouraged for budgetary reasons even if appropriate for the nature of the conference call.